r/interestingasfuck • u/Red_Lotus_Alchemist • 2d ago

/r/all A Chinese earthquake rescue team deployed drones to light up the night and aid search and rescue operations after the devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Myanmar.

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u/EmusOnly 2d ago

Looks like that wire is connected to a generator, that’s actually pretty neat

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u/NJ_Legion_Iced_Tea 2d ago edited 2d ago

I can't wait for when wireless charging is able to extend multiple/hundreds of feet.

Wired drones are already capable of so much, and powering them wirelessly is going to be a civilizational game changer.

Edit: I'm talking high concept sci fi. The likes of which is probably outside of our reach but what we can strive towards. On par with Star Trek Transporters and Communicators from the 60s.

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u/Jazz8680 2d ago

Wireless energy decays exponentially as distance increases. Wireless charging over hundreds of feet would require massive amounts of energy to the point it wouldn’t be worth it.

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u/xenelef290 2d ago

Technically it decays geometrically a distance squared.

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u/FieserMoep 1d ago

Wasn't it arithmetically degradation at longitude multiplied?

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u/SpaceyFrontiers 1d ago

This thread sounds like it'll have 1k+ upvotes

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u/xenelef290 1d ago

That is gibberish

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/flukus 2d ago

At that point you're probably better off with a mirror on the bottom of the drone to provide light.

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u/AwesomeFama 2d ago

Ahh, a disco ball perhaps?

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u/S-r-ex 2d ago

For rescue parties.

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u/xenelef290 2d ago

That is a good idea

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u/dinosaur_from_Mars 2d ago

Just make a small reactor to generate energy on board.

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u/pepinyourstep29 2d ago

Just no. Transferring electric wirelessly is like trying to drink water by licking moisture in the air. It just doesn't work and will never be practical.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/AwesomeFama 2d ago

Transferring energy wirelessly is very easy. They had cannons that managed it quite well many centuries ago, and for example the catapult before that!

Transferring electricity wirelessly is much trickier though, you're right about that.

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u/Throw-a-wizzle-acct 2d ago

Lasers or microwaves could direct energy much better

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u/rouvas 2d ago

Nikola Tesla would like to know your location.

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u/SixShoot3r 1d ago

Yup, just like any other radiation. Time, Distance and Protection.

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u/nico282 2d ago

Spoiler alert, it won't. Physics laws don't change.

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u/NJ_Legion_Iced_Tea 2d ago

You're not entirely wrong, and it's probably only a good idea in sci fi. But there's nothing wrong in aspiring to create tech near that hypothetical potential.

Even 20 years ago you'd have been called mad for charging a cell phone wirelessly.

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u/Jealous_Priority_228 2d ago

It currently exists, but radiating that much power would undoubtedly be harmful to any humans, or pets, caught in the area. There's a room at a university where you can hold a light bulb, and it'll light up anywhere you hold it.

It's probably smarter to focus on concentrating batteries even more. Electricity is plentiful and renewable.

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u/Somepotato 2d ago

Not necessarily. Directed radiation and lasers are ways to distribute power over a distance without risking people.

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u/sikyon 2d ago

its conceptually straightforward to supply power via a scanning laser, in practice anything that steps betwen the beam line will get burned. There are ways around it but the safety risks are so high it's not practical

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u/Jostain 2d ago

I hope you realise that this is worse than just attaching a wire. Suddenly you have a thing that needs to have direct line of sight to the drone at all times and uses 100 times more power. Solutions don't just need to be cool, they need to be better than the already existing solution.

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u/TapdancingHotcake 2d ago

That sounds terribly like a wire with extra steps

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u/BishoxX 2d ago

Sure , but we are miles off any technology of that nature.

Its like 0.0000001% of magnetic charging

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/Somepotato 2d ago edited 2d ago

Um...are people holding that power station on the ground? And fyi, radiation isn't inherently harmful...the light, wifi, and heat coming off your phone are all forms of radiation.

Edit: LMAO HE BLOCKED ME "Those aren't forms of electrical radiation" alright buddy what a sore loser.

I was hoping to engage in hypotheticals - not provide this as a 'guaranteed' solution. I think it could work given a proper setup (such as a mesh of drones)

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u/Jealous_Priority_228 2d ago

Shouldn't have tried to have fun with a troll. Those aren't forms of electrical radiation, and you're incorrect.

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u/flukus 2d ago

Even 20 years ago you'd have been called mad for charging a cell phone wirelessly.

Not really, it's something kids have been doing in science classes for many decades.

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u/Jostain 2d ago

It's not wireless though. You have to put it down on a plate and keep it perfectly aligned while it's charging. If anything it's more wired than regular charging. There is a reason that a lot of phone manufacturers stopped pushing that feature because they did the math and realised it was a technological dead end.

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u/nico282 2d ago

Sorry to ruin it for you, but the QI wireless standard is from 17 years ago (2008), and non standard solutions existed way before that.

My toothbrush was wireless charging in the 80s.

To become mainstream on phones it lacked only intelligence (phone now communicates with the charger) and standardization. It was never a physics issue.

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u/VladamirK 2d ago

Nikola Tesla was experimenting with wireless energy transfers in the 1900s.

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u/_xiphiaz 2d ago

Physics allows for wireless tech to carry energy? It’s probably going to have to be something like microwave lasers or something, but there’s no physics that disallows this

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u/Narcuterie 2d ago

Crazy inefficiency and complexity as compared to a cable I'm afraid

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u/OpenRole 2d ago

That's like saying wireless communication will never take off because of the crazy inefficiencies and complexities compared to cable. The point of wireless is to be an option in areas where running a cable is unfeasible, not because it is superior to cable.

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u/TapdancingHotcake 2d ago

The issue is radiating power in large enough volumes to actually do anything. I can't even fathom having the power to do it over a wide area, but even if you did, I cannot imagine that's good for living things in the vicinity. And if you want to direct it, you still face the issue of anything in its path getting fried, or even just obstructing it.

There's technically experimental tech to shoot power down from orbiting solar panels via microwave beams. The satellite dishes would be massive and dangerous to be near.

Of course it's technically possible if our understanding of physics is incorrect, but then so is everything.

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u/OpenRole 1d ago

Lasers, not radiation

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u/_xiphiaz 2d ago

Oh sure there are plenty of good reasons this isn’t a thing, physics isn’t one of them.

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u/VP007clips 2d ago

There's no law of physics that says it's impossible.

Using magnetic fields to charge it doesn't make sense of course, since they drop off with the cube of distance, but there are other viable ways to move power long distances without wires.

Lasers for example can be used with very efficient solar panels to transfer power remotely. It hasn't been done on a realistic scale yet, we lack the technology and don't have a use for it. But there's no reason why it wouldn't be possible once we improve those.

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u/Cristianelrey55 2d ago

Bruh, lazer focus chargers exist.

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u/iWesleyy 2d ago

Someone will figure it out. There is tons of research in this area. You have to think outside the box of course as electricity tends to like the ground :)

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u/Tangata_Tunguska 2d ago

I'm not sure that'd ever make sense. Even with a narrow beam you'd still be limited to line of sight. And that beam emitter would be bordering on being a weapon in itself. It'd make more sense to use wires like they are here, or just use more drones and cycle through charging them 

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u/aaron_1011 2d ago

I believe Isaac Newton tried doing that, and that's how he discovered microwaves. Except while testing they found it also boils water which is a neat side effect .... It didn't work that's well, though they did invent the microwave

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u/Fickle-Reality7777 2d ago

Here’s to another banner year.

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u/RuairiSpain 2d ago

I guess the motors overheat after prolonged running?

Great use of tech, love it. Nice to see Chinese firefighters doing humanitarian work. Seems like the world needs to get used to Chinese being more reliable than the USA in times of crisis.

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u/Ryhsuo 2d ago

Motors shouldn’t overheat unless they or the propellers are incorrectly sized.

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u/mike_sky4 2d ago

you could add a supportpole to the bottom, to reduce the power required to generate lift, oh wait, its just an ineficient mobile floodlight....

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u/Spiritual_Bus1125 2d ago

Brother, do you get that a "mobile floodlight" that could get that high is not a suitcase I can put in the back of my car but a whole ass vehicle?

And more importantly, it can't go OVER irregular terrain